The New-York Historical Society and NYC Media, the official network of the City of New York, have partnered to produce a special series of 90 one-minute videos that feature the staff of the New-York Historical Society as they answer some of the most captivating questions ever posed to them about the City’s fascinating and unique history. And now, the series has been nominated for a New York Emmy award!

The first known reference to any celebration of St. Patrick's Day in New York City is found in a 1756 issue of the New-York Post-Boy; the first resembling a parade, in a March 1766 New York Gazette. Irishmen serving in the British army organized the proceedings, including fife and drums at dawn—a parade of sorts—and festivities that evening.

The re-branding of Times Square occured in the 1990s with new zoning laws that prohibited sex-related businesses from operating within 500 feet of schools, residences and houses of worship and within 500 feet of one another. These rules have caused peep shows and adult entertainment to move to new locations, including 8th Avenue, 6th Avenue in Midtown and the Hudson River waterfront.

On May 9, 1965, an MTA detective watched teenagers board a subway car at Coney Island and leave behind a cardboard box that moved. Thinking a gull was inside, he took the box to Stillwell Avenue to release it. He instead idscovered a penguin that bit him on the thumb. The detective contacted the Coney Island Aquarium and a count showed that one penguin was indeed missing.

There were at least two earlier, accidental crashes. On July 28, 1945 a B-25 Mitchell bomber en route from Massachusetts to New Jersey hit the Empire State Building, killing all on board plus eleven office workers. And on May 20, 1946, a Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor flying from Louisiana to New Jersey slammed into 40 Wall Street, killing all on board.

Brownstone was actually used only to "front" row houses built of less-expensive brick. It was cheaper than granite, marble or limestone and was also considered less desirable until the mid-nineteenth century, when the Romantic Movement ushered in a taste for dark materials. Improvements in mining made newly stylish brownstone more affordable and by the 1860s it was the building stone of choice.

The modern incubator, a glass-walled box, was brought to the US in 1898. Its popularity at American expositions persuaded Dr. Martin Couney to set up a small display of incubators in a small building on the Boardwalk of Coney Island. Since hospitals at the time lacked neo-natal wards, mothers from all over the city rushed their premature infants to Brooklyn, where they were given the chance to survive. People paid $.25 to see these remarkably tiny infants. Many lives were saved before the facility, which had also been featured at the 1939 World's Fair, was closed.